Reflection by interviewer:
In an increasingly global landscape, one of the key challenges is being able to adopt an open mindset and to actively interact with our surroundings through sharing our thoughts, experiences, and feelings with other people in order to better understand and accept new ideas and changes. However, through my conversation with Mdm. Gaiety Iwasawa, I learnt that cultivating global diversity in Japan is an uphill task due to key issues such as fear of failure and lack of confidence in sharing thoughts and feelings. As mentioned by Gaiety, the only way forward is to “respect the past and look into the future” by honoring traditional Japanese values while engaging in “play” and nurturing curiosity to debate, discuss, and interact with our surroundings and people so as to build new values and forge new relationships. -- By Steven Neo Say Bin